NJ governor asks Biden for more federal resources on drone sightings

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) asked President Biden for more federal resources to respond to the mysterious drone sightings in the Garden State over the past few weeks.

“While I am sincerely grateful for your administration’s leadership in addressing this concerning issue, it has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” Murphy wrote in a Thursday letter to the president.

"New Jersey residents deserve more concrete information about these UAS sightings and what is causing them," he wrote in the letter, using an acronym for unmanned aircraft systems. "The continued reporting of UAS activity has raised more questions than answers and prompted an outcropping of conspiracy theories on social media and other online platforms."

Murphy requested additional assistance from the federal government, with current laws restricting what local and state law officials can do about the large drones spotted flying above New Jersey’s skies.

Apart from New Jersey, sightings of drones have been reported in nearby New York and Maryland. Senators representing New Jersey and New York have issued a letter directed to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, asking for a briefing on the matter that has alarmed residents in their states.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said there’s no evidence of public safety or national security threats, but he added the federal government is working to identify what those drones are.

“We haven’t seen any indication thus far that there’s a public safety risk,” Kirby said Thursday, comments he received criticism for.

The Defense Department said there has been no evidence that those drones are “the work of an adversary” or because of the work of a foreign entity.

Murphy said the FBI is working with state officials to discover the source of the unidentified drones.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) did a patrol Thursday night, during which he witnessed “multiple unexplained and unidentified” drones.

Apart from sending the letter to Biden, Murphy also directed another Thursday letter, this one to congressional leaders, asking them to “empower state and local law enforcement entities with the ability to use advanced detection and mitigation technology.”

Murphy also said in the letter that Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) “have bipartisan legislation — ‘Safeguarding the Homeland from the Threats Posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act of 2023’ — that would help accomplish these goals.”

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